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Dozens of homes swept away by floods in Iraq’s Najaf

Water from heavy rain blocks access to roads for vehicles in Erbil, Iraq on 9 December 2018 [Yunus Keleş/Anadolu Agency]

January 28, 2019 at 9:00 pm

More than 50 homes in Iraq’s southern Najaf province have been swept away by severe flash floods, a local civil-defence official said Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Torrential floods from the Najaf desert — the result of recent heavy rainfall — have swept away more than 50 homes in the village of Al-Rahimiya in the province’s southwest region,” Ihab Sheikli, a local civil-defence official, told Anadolu Agency.

Civil-defence teams are now helping local families relocate to safer areas, Sheikli said, adding that no casualties had been reported thus far.

On Sunday, Iraq’s Water Resources Ministry warned the public to brace for inordinately heavy rainfall and accompanying flash floods in the days ahead.

Last November, at least 10 people were killed in different parts of Iraq by torrential rains and flooding.

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